


A Different Ending To A Better Story

by RDJWINCHESTER1



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Castiel Feels, Castiel is a writer, Crying, De-aged Drug, De-aged Female, Dean Feels, Diapers, Doctors, Gen, Human Castiel (Supernatural), M/M, Married Castiel/Dean Winchester, Married Sex, Medical Procedures, Original Female Named Kate, Pacifiers, history professors, just because
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:48:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22322086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RDJWINCHESTER1/pseuds/RDJWINCHESTER1
Summary: Kate Collins had accepted a ride from the librarian. Only he wasn't a librarian.Cas and Dean Winchester had found the perfect girl to try the new drug called Alethoura. It is a de-aging drug.They want a little girlKate wants a better lifeWith this new start give all of them a different ending to a better story?
Relationships: Castiel (Supernatural) & Original Female Character(s), Castiel/Dean Winchester, Dean Winchester & Original Female Character(s), Sam Winchester & Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

_ HE WASN’T A LIBRARIAN!!!!! _

When the new librarian named Cas had offered to drive her home, she had gladly accepted. It was raining out. And it wasn’t really home. She didn’t have a home. It was more than just a place with a roof. She didn’t like the new foster parents she had been sent to. Even when she had first been introduced to them she knew they were just in it for the money.

“Where are we going?” Asked Kate in a slightly worried tone. She made it sound more curious than scared. She was good at not showing her real emotions. When the doors had locked she wasn’t sure what was going to happen. _‘What did this man have in mind? Sicko probably. She had handled her dad before, she could handle this guy.’_

“To my house. My husband should be waiting for us. It is after 5 anyways. His name is Dean. I think you’ll like him.”

_ ‘Great this sicko had a party planned.’ _

Cas seemed to know what Kate was thinking. “We aren’t going to harm you. We want to give you something.”

“That’s what the last guy said.” The teen couldn’t help but look at the man with a challenge in her deep blue eyes; gauging his reaction. She was thrown for a loop when she heard the older man’s response.

“I’m truly sorry about that Kate. But I give you my honor and my husband’s that we will not lay one finger on you.” Cas frowned when he heard that. He hadn’t known about that part of her life. _‘Maybe this was going to be harder than he thought.’_

Kate tensed when they pulled into the driveway. From what she could gauge they were about 20 miles from her foster home but only about 5 from town. The house was average size, slightly out of place because it looks like any house that would belong in a normal neighborhood. It had a normal sized front lawn and slightly bigger than normal backyard that had a tall fence surrounding it. 

_‘Probably so neighbors couldn’t see some weird shit.’_ Thought Kate. She jumped when Cas broke her thoughts. 

“Would you like to go in now?”

“Do I have a choice?” Kate rolled her eyes.

“Actually you do. I will drive you back home, the only thing we ask is that you tell no one of what happened.”

He looked so sad as he said that Kate looked down at her lap. She felt the need to say sorry as well, she had no idea why and decided not to say anything. 

Cas got out of the car and started walking towards the house. He wanted to cry when he heard the passenger side door open the close. He could hear the teenager behind him as he unlock the front door. He walked in calling to his husband as he did so. He left the door open so Kate could come in when she pleased. He knew the front door was the next hurdle she would have to come over before him or Dean could do anything. 

“Honey, I’m home.” He called. He didn’t need to tell Dean that Kate was with him, he didn't need to. Dean and him had planned this day for as much as they could. 

Kate stood at the front door. Watching Cas walk in and call to his husband. He had called out so natural as if he hadn't just kidnapped someone. _‘_ _**Her** . They had kidnapped her.’ _

“Hi babe. In here.” Dean called from the kitchen. He was cooking spaghetti. He wanted something hot for whoever walked through the door. Teenager or no teenager. He sent up a tiny prayer that there would be one though. When he turned around to see Cas walking towards him without a teenager he felt his heart sink a little. He had been the one to propose the idea to Cas in the first place. He had known of a doctor in the area who was willing to try the experimental drug they would use to help Kate. 

“She is at the front door.” Said Cas quietly coming up to Dean.

“No she’s not.” 

Cas turned to look behind him. Kate was standing at the border where the carpet of the living room changed into the tile of the kitchen floor. She had her head down fiddling with the zipper on her hoodie was two sizes too big for her. 

“Hi. I’m Dean, Cas’s husband. I made spaghetti.” _‘Wow. That sounded lame.’_

“You guys have said husband several times. I get it. You’re gay. I’m not hungry.”

“Ok then.” Dean said with a smirk. Kate had fire in her. He liked it. “You don’t have to eat.” He said calmly. 

Kate was scared of the new man. He had a deep voice, yet at the same time it happy. _‘Maybe she wasn’t afraid of it.’_ She was hungry, but she thought if she ate it, it would mean that she agreed to whatever the two men standing in the kitchen wanted her to do. 

“Well I’m hungry.” Cas said as he grabbed a plate and filled it with the hot food. Dean did the same. They walked past Kate, who was leaning against the wall hopefully in a relaxed manner, the men knew better and knew Kate was so tense and scare her hands shook just the tiniest bit. They walked past her and sat down on the couch turning on the TV as they did. Dean saw that Friends was on and quickly clicked on it before Cas could object. 

“Babe. That’s not fair!” Cas did object. He made a move to grab the remote from Dean. 

“Nope I got it first I get to choose.” Dean held the remote of his head and out of his reach. Cas huffed and flopped back on the couch. 

The men watched the episode of friends before turning it to the 10 o’clock news. They both took turns glancing behind them when they heard shuffling behind them. Cas made an small excited squeaking sound, the kind that gave gay men a bad name and threw his arms around Dean’s neck. Kate had grown tired at some point of watching the men and being on edge. She had slumped against the wall, still standing until sleep won over and she slid to the ground. 

Kate didn’t trust these men. They both acted so normal. Normal. Like the teenager in the living standing in the corner had just come home from school and was mad and didn’t want to talk to her parents. Not a teenager who had just been kidnapped and was terrified. The men were sitting on the leather  couch eating spaghetti and watching Friends. She had always been used to keeping an eye on the younger children at the foster home that she wasn’t sure what to do with herself in the quiet and strangely calm household. She was hungry and exhausted. She could feel her eyes drooping. She hid a silent yawn behind her hand. She was trying hard to stay awake. _‘There was no way she was falling asleep near her captors. But it was so quiet and warm. Maybe if she sat on the floor it would be ok. She could totally leap to her feet in a second if the men decided to do anything.’_

“Should we wake her up and talk to her?”

“No.” Came the response from Cas. “Lets leave her there. We can leave a PB&J and a blanket near her. If she is still here in the morning we can talk. Not tonight. The stress has finally caught up with her and she couldn’t care less where she is right now.”

“Then we helped her just in time didn’t we.”

“Yes honey. Yes we did.” Cas laid a gentle kiss on his husband’s lips and got up to get the requested items. 

******

Kate woke up the next morning wrapped in a green blanket and an empty plate with the remnants of strawberry jelly on it, next to her. Sometime during the night she had eaten and gotten under the blanket. As she sat in the soft light of the early morning, Kate thought of the events that had perspired last night. There wasn’t much to think about really. They hadn’t talked about anything. She remembered how strangely peaceful it had been. 

“Good Morning.”

Kate gave a little scream when she noticed the man called Dean had come around the corner of the kitchen wall and was kneeling in front of her.

Whoa. I didn’t mean to scare you sunshine.” Dean held up his hands in a ‘easy boy’ gesture and backed up a couple of steps. He went back to his kneeling position as to not seem as threatening. He knew that the teenager was a bit more skittish about him than Cas. The couple had discussed everything last night in bed about how they were going to deal with Kate and the conversation the next morning.

“Cas and I just wanted to talk to you before I had to leave for work.”

The front door opened and Kate thought this was when the two men decided to have their ‘party’ from last night or ‘they just straight up kill me.’ She thought.

“Good morning sweetheart.” Cas had come in from putting the garbage out. He stopped once he saw the positions his husband and girl were in.

“Dean, babe, why don’t you go get two extra chairs from the kitchen.” He said calmly. He didn’t think Dean realized that he had inadvertently pinned Kate against a wall. The blond girl did have two directions she could run from, but once he had come in and blocked her right way of escape, he knew she wouldn’t run out the side sliding glass doors that lead to the backyard. He also knew she was completely aware of her surroundings and knew that she wouldn’t be able to jump the tall fence in the backyard before Cas or Dean had caught her. _‘She probably thought the door was locked as well.’_

Once Dean had left, Cas stepped away from the front door. He was giving her the say opinion he had given last night. _‘If she wanted to go, she could. They would not harm a hair on her head.’_

Kate froze. Cas had come in and blocked her first way of escape. The side door was probably locked. _‘What idiots kidnapped someone and didn’t lock their doors.’_ She wouldn't have been able to jump that fence with them catching me first anyways.’ Kate didn’t want to think about what they would do to her if she tried to run.

“The doors are always unlocked.” Cas said as if thinking the same thing. “Unless we are both gone that is. Leaving a door unlocked when you’re gone is just plain stupid.” He chuckled. “Ah yes Dean thanks for bringing the chairs. Lets move the coffee table and put the chairs face side side to the couch.”

As the men moved out to follow out with the plan, Kate stood up and leaned against the wall. She felt like she stopped breathing when they sat down in the chair and Dean gestured towards the empty couch for her to join them. 

‘Ok then. Here we go.’ Kate went over to the couch with the green blanket still wrapped around her shoulders. Sue her. It felt comfy and safe. _‘If a blanket could feel safe.’_

“Before we start I just want to give you the same option from yesterday: I will drive you back home, the only thing we ask is that you tell no one of what happened.” When Kate nodded, Cas continued.

“My name is Cas Winchester and this is my husband Dean. We are both are historians. Dean works at the Museum of Science and History. I work from home as a historian, but I’m the kind that researches the information and then write books with the right information.”

“Well as right as any history can be.” Dean laughed. “I’m Dean.” _‘Wow. that sounded lame.’_ “But you already knew that.” 

Cas reached over and calmly squeezed his knee in a ‘calm down and breathe’ manner. He heard Kate give a little breath as well. 

“I only work at the museum 3⁄4 of the time. The other time I am researching a new drug call Alethoura. It is a drug that takes someone from the age that they are at and it makes them to an age that they need to reach where they feel safe and loved. It--”

Cas put his hand on Dean’s leg to stop him. “Do you have a question?”

Kate was looking at her hands in her lap the entire time as they spoke. She had no idea how he knew she had a question, but she did.

“The first time you said  **takes** and then the second time it was  **makes** .” 

“So the drug takes you from, well, from being a 16 year old and makes you an age that works for you. It takes you to a place where you feel safe and loved. From watching you and researching your past we think you would be around one, maybe a couple months younger.”

“Mentally?”

“Yes.” Dean took a deep breath. “And physically.”

Kate let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. _‘Wait. Shouldn’t she be sucking in air and holding her breath now not the opposite way around?’_

“Ok.” She said dumbly. _‘What else was she supposed to say? They obviously want her to take the drug.’_

It was Cas’s turn to talk. “It is an experimental drug, but we think you’re worth it. We can’t have kids for obvious reasons and adoption is out of the equation.”

“Worthy it! What the hell!” Kate shouted. She looked dumbfounded at them. “I’m worthy it to experiment on. What am I, a special rat!”

“We think you’re worth it with or without the drug.” Cas said quietly. While some people didn’t like his and Dean’s lifestyle and choices, no one should be allowed to abuse children. Mentally or physically. A small smile and nod from Dean showed that he agreed. 

Kate froze. “What did you just say?”

“I said that  **we** think you’re worth it.” Restated Cas. 

_ ‘What else do I have to lose? If it works great for these sickos. If it didn’t and I die, who cares.’ _

“What happens if I say yes? But I’m not.” Rushed Kate.

“If you said yes we will take you to a doctor we know that works with littles, the Alethoura and with normal kids for that matter.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate says yes

_ ‘She had said yes.  _ **_Yes_ ** _. Why?’ _ Kate still wasn’t sure why she had agreed.  _ ‘Maybe she was hoping for a better life.’ _

The husbands were sitting on either side of her and were sitting in a doctors office. It looked like any kids doctors office would. It had brightly colored walls with butterfly stickers and blue skies. There was a section for building blocks and coloring. The chairs were normal chairs that you would find in any doctors office. Hard and uncomfortable. That familiar piece grounded Kate in some weird way. But this was the farthest thing from weird right now. 

“Mr. & Mr. Winchester.”

Kate startled out of her thoughts. She steeled herself before following the Winchesters to the back. 

Cas looked at Dean over Kate’s head. She was so stiff that it radiated off of her. Cas tried to stay calm for her sake.

Dean looked at Cas over Kate’s head. He gave him a smile. He reached behind Kate and reached over to give his hand a reassuring squeeze. He looked at him letting him know it was going to be ok. 

The trio followed the nurse into the exam room. She nodded towards two chairs for the men and asked Kate to sit on the exam table. 

“Alright honey. I’m going to take your vitals and some blood.” 

“Ok,” Kate wasn’t about to tell anyone in that room she was afraid of needles. The blood pressure cuff, pulse and oxygen rate, and temperature were over all too quickly. 

“Ok honey. Now hold out your arm and make a fist,” the nurse came over with the blue rubber tourniquet and wrapped it around her upper arm. She started flicking her fingers against the median cubital vein. (The main vein in the bendy part of your elbow). 

Kate hated the tight way the tourniquet felt. She hated the way the nurse’s fingers felt over her sensitive vein. And she  **definitely** hated the way the needle felt going into her arm. She couldn't help the hot sting of tears. She swallowed quickly. _‘She wasn’t a wuss.’_

Dean had to swallow his own emotion when he saw how Kate looked when the nurse took her blood. _‘She’s so scared and overwhelmed right now.’_ He would give anything to go over there and scoop her up in a hug. 

“Good job sweetie,” the nurse rubbed Kate’s shoulder as she pulled the needle out and removed the tourniquet. 

Kate shot her a glare.

“The doctor will be in once he looks at the results.”

“Ok. Thank you very much,” Cas said quietly with a smile. The nurse smiled back and left, closing the door behind her. 

“Kate it’s--,” Dean started to say, but fell silent once she shot him a glare to rival the devil. He knew she needed, and wanted, comfort. But he wasn’t going to force her into anything. At this point it might just overwhelm her more.

The room fell silent as they waited for the doctor. They didn't have to wait long. Only about 17 minutes. _‘Not that Cas was counting or anything.’_

“Hello folks. How are we today?” A middle aged man in a white lab coat, or doctor coat in this case, came in and shook everyone’s hand. “My name is Dr. Daniel Novak. What is yours my dear?” he looked at Kate over his black rimmed glasses.

“I’m your lab rat shouldn’t you know who I am?” Kate snapped at him.  She knew who Dr. Novak was. Cas had let her use his computer in his office to look him up and some of her own research on the Alethoura drug. 

Dr. Novak was a well known pediatrician. He had graduated from the same college Cas had, Flagler College-St Augustine. He graduated a year earlier than Cas and had helped him get a recognizable name in the book writing business. Dr. Novak had written two books on medicine, one of which included new studies done on drugs. It didn’t include Alethoura, but it had been a good book for Kate to look at. 

“It is simply pleasant small talk my dear. No harm done. But I must ask now that you have approached me with that tone. Do you consent to what is happening?” 

_‘The doc had said all of that with kindness and patience.’_ Kate kind of felt bad for saying it like that. _‘But only kind of.’_

“Sorry.”

“It’s ok dear. No harm done. Do you consent?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I wouldn't hold it against Cas to kidnap someone,” the doctor finished that sentence with a wink in Cas’s direction.

Kate couldn’t help but give a small smile when Cas let out a small exasperated sound and crossed his arms over his chest.

_ ‘He just winked at him! At  _ **_my_ ** _ husband!’ _ Dean shot a glare at the man.  _ ‘He didn’t like the attitude he has with Cas. And now he’s talking to him!’ _

“Why hello Cas. How are you?” Daniel went over to shake Cas’s hand heartily.

“I’m doing just fine Daniel. How are you?”

_ ‘Great! They’re on a first name bases!’ _

“Just dandy. And this must be the infamous Dean Winchester I’ve heard so much about,” the doctor reached out his hand again to shake Dean’s. 

Dean may or may not have squeezed a little too hard. 

Cas noticed how Dean shook Daniel’s hand. He decided it would be in Daniel’s best interest to intervene.

“So Daniel how is Maddy and your son doing? He is what? Three weeks old?”

The doctor smiled that reached his ears. “Caleb is actually 4 weeks! Maddy is doing so well. She is bummed though, she has to go back to work on Thursday.”

Cas saw Dean visually relax.

“Alrighty, enough chit chat. Let’s get this party started,” Dr. Novak walked over to his desk where the paperwork sat.

_ ‘Where  **my** _ _paperwork sits.’_ Kate took a deep breath. _‘Here we go.’_

“Alright deary. Do you know what we are going to do today?”

“Yeah.”

“Ok sweetheart. This a big deal. I need you to stop with the teenager attitude. I need you to tell me what you know and what you have questions about.” 

Kate looked him straight in the eyes.  “Teenage attitude! That’s the last thing I have right now. If I was a teenager I wouldn’t be here, I would be at the nearest police station. So YES I know what I  am in for. I know what these crazy sickos want. They want to turn me into a lab rat for a drug that no one has ever heard about. To turn me in a baby. So I can live a “better life”. Because there is something wrong when a parent decides that it is ok to beat their child. They beat them because it is “fun.” Because they can. So YES they want me to have a “better life”.” Kate voice had started off so forceful and ended up so soft by the end of her short rant. “And maybe that what I want. A better life.”

“Well then just maybe we can give you one.”

******

“Alright deary lay back for me,” Dr. Novak said gently. He had taken them to a separate exam room that look more like a room for performing surgeries. Kate was dressed in one of those god awful hospital gowns. He had given her a warm blanket to cover up her lower body, so she didn’t feel that exposed. (It wasn’t as soft as the green one).

“I’m going to stick you with three needles. The first one is for pain. And the second one is a sedative. It is going to be a painful process. It should only take about an hour, but we have the sedative to help calm you down. I heard you were scared of needles. Do you want them to hold your hand?” He said instigating towards Cas and Dean. 

“What the hell,” Kate deadpanned. “We’d better start sooner rather than later.” 

Dean ignored the way Kate’s hand was trembling or the way she gripped the blanket just a bit tighter. He didn’t want to add her already embarrassed state.

Cas noticed and when he took her hand he gently laid a kiss on her white knuckles. 

_‘He kissed my hand. How sweet. Asshole.’_ Kate looked down at her lap and fiddled with the blanket at what she thought. _‘They were just trying to be nice. I might as well get used to it.’_

“What’s the third shot for?” Kate’s voice trembled as she asked. They all knew what it was for, but she just wanted to make sure.

Dr. Novak seemed to understand her nervousness and answered her calmly. “That is the Alethoura. The needle will sting but it is the after effect that will  mean more. But that’s why we have the pain and relaxer,” he laid a hand gently on her shoulder.  “You ready?”

All Kate could do was nod her head. 

The first shot was Lidocaine. It hurt enough to bring tears to her eyes. The second shot was the one that made them fall. It was the sedative. Kate could argue that the relaxer relaxed her face so the tears just happen to fall. But she wasn’t about to argue with anyone. _‘She was scared.’_

Dean took notice this time when the teenager’s hand gripped his just a little bit tighter. By Cas’s reaction, he had received the same response.

“It’s ok sweetie. I know it hurts. It won’t hurt for much longer. Shh. It’s ok Daddy and Papa are here,” Dean petted Kate’s hair. 

“She won’t remember any of it,” said Daniel from where he was getting the third shot ready.

_ ‘What! I won’t remember anything! Will I remember anything?’ _

“It’s ok deary. You remember some stuff, but it will fade over time. But by that time you’ll have a new Daddy and Papa,” the doc seemed to know what she was thinking. 

Kate gulped and nodded.

“You ready for the final one?”

Kate was feeling a little drowsy so she just nodded once again.

“Ok deary here we go,” Daniel was extra careful administering the last shot.

Cas’s heart broke when he heard the little whimper the small girl let out. _‘God, she was so small on that big table. So small.’_ He ran his hand through her golden locks. “It’s ok sunshine, you can go to sleep. Daddy and I will be here when you wake up.”

“Ok.” 

The three men watched as the young girl on the exam table closed her eyes and her head lolled to the side.

******

Once Kate went under the nurses moved into action. Two nurses began to restraint her wrists and ankles. The Winchester men had been made aware that Kate could experience seizures during the first transition. The nurses also put a piece of leather between her teeth so she didn’t grit her teeth while under.

“It will take some time gentlemen. Should I suggest you can wait in the waiting room you were in before or you can leave and we will contact you when it is settled and done,” the third nurse turned and talked to the men. 

“I want to wait here,” Dean rushed. Cas nodded his agreement. The nurse nodded and led the men back to the waiting room. 

As Cas sat down he took a hold of Dean’s hand. “She’s going to be ok right?”

“Yes babe. It’s going to be ok. Perfectly ok,” He laid a kiss on Cas’s temple. “I love you.”

“Love you too,” Cas laid his head on Dean’s shoulder, both settling in for a long wait to see their daughter. 

******

After about 45 minutes, a nurse rushed out to the men.

“Mr. & Mr. Winchester please follow me,” The nurse stopped long enough to say that and turn right back around and went back to where she came from. For the surgery room where Kate was.

_‘What happened? Was his baby ok?’_ Cas held his breath and Dean’s hand as they rushed to follow the nurse. 

“What happened?” Questioned Dean.

“Kate started to have seizures. After her third one she woke up and started screaming.”

******

Kate didn’t understand what was going on. She was stuck in her own mind. It was like a really bad dream. She could only “sit” there and watch as a thousand memories passed by. _‘Her mother overdosing. Her father beating her. Her father leaving. The 12 different foster homes she had been in. Her last foster home was the worse. Her school and the two friends she had made. They weren’t really her friends, just more so people she sat with during lunch. The quiet time she loved spending time at the library. The library!’_ The last week came rushing back to her so fast pain exploded through her body. She could feel herself shaking violently. _‘It hurts so bad!’_ Kate remembered Cas and Dean and what they promised and why she was strapped to a bed. ‘Cas. Dean. Daddy and Papa right?’ She didn’t remember who was who, but she didn’t care. _‘She needed them!’_

Kate woke up with a start. She was gasping for air and her vision was blurry. A nurse rushed over and laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“It’s ok Kate. You’re at Dr. Novak’s medical center. You are coming out of a heavy procedure. Just try and relax for me.”

“No I need,” Kate couldn’t breath. She was having a hard time putting together words or form a solid thought. She just knew she needed something. “I needed Cas...I need...I need Dean.”

“Not yet sweetie. We need you to relax and calm down first. Try to breath. Do you need some oxygen?”

“No I need Papa. I need Daddy,” Yeah, that’s what she needed. She needed them. She **wanted** them. 

“Not yet dear,” the nurse tried putting an oxygen mask on her.

“NO!”

“It’s ok. You need help breathing for a little bit. It’s ok. Let me just put this on you.”

“NO!” Kate kept thrashing around, moving her head frantically from side to side. “I want them!” She continued to scream at the nurse. “NO NO NO!!!”

The nurse finally decided that Kate was awake enough, because she was moving and screaming, to go get her parents. She kept trying to calm Kate as she sent another nurse to go get the Winchester men. 

******

Cas and Dean came in to see Kate absolutely frantic screaming for them. They rushed to each side of her.

“Hi baby. It’s ok. Daddy and Papa are here. We’ve got you. You need to try and calm down sunshine. You need to try and breath,” Dean pushed Kate’s sweaty locks off her face. Once he said those words, Kate stopped thrashing around, but was still too close to hyperventilating.

“The nurse is going to give you something to help you breath, ok.” 

Dean stepped back so the nurse could put an oxygen mask on her. She tried to take it off but the cuffs kept her wrists in place. That must have been the last straw for her. She broke down in gut wrenching sobs. 

Kate was trying to do as Dean said. _‘It was hard. It hurt to breathe. She couldn’t breath! She was scared!’_ As the nurse put an oxygen mask on her she got really scared. _‘Was she going to die?’_ She looked at Dean and reached out her arms crying. _‘She wanted Daddy.’_

Dean heard Kate say something from behind the mask, but because of the mask he couldn’t understand her. Her arms reaching up in a universal sign. She wanted to be held. _‘She_ _**wanted** to be held!’ _

“Undo you side of the cuffs Cas,” Dean said as he undid his side. It was rather an order. But he didn’t really need to say that as Cas was already undoing his side. 

“Sir you can’t do that,” A nurse rushed over to stop him.

“Yes I can and I am,” Dean snapped. “She is  **my** child.”

The nurse didn’t open her mouth. Dean could be quite persuading and scary when he needed to be.

Once Cas had undone his side, Dean scooped Kate up in his arms. _‘She’s so weak and sweaty.’_

“She trembling so hard Cas,” Dean couldn’t help his own tears from falling. 

Kate continued to sob into Dean’s chest for the next 15 minutes. Her trembling began to taper off, as she fell into a restless sleep, still cradled in his arms. 

“How is she doing Mr. Winchester?”

Neither man had noticed Dr. Novak come up behind them. 

As Dean and Cas relayed what had happened, he gestured towards Kate to take her. Dean looked ready to kill him as he handed the child over. He understood though, he would kill anyone who tried to take Caleb from him if he was sick. 

“Alright deary, let's see,” he gently laid Kate back on the hospital bed. He checked her vital and how her breathing was doing. He decided to leave her oxygen on for a little while longer. He turned to the two men.  “I would like to keep her overnight for observation.”

Both men just nodded wearily.

“You can stay here if you like. The chairs are uncomfortable though. And we will call you if anything happens.”

Both men nodded wearily again.

“We’re going to get a hotel I guess. It was a 2½ hour drive here,” said Cas. “We packed a bag just in case.”

“Ok then. There is one on Wilkinson street.”

Both men didn’t know what else to do, so after each laid a kiss on the young girl’s forehead they both left for the hotel. To get restless and ‘no sleep’ kind of night. 

The two men, the doctor and Kate couldn’t wait for morning. Each hoping it would be better. 


	3. Author Note

Coffee keeps me awake to write another chapter or write faster!!!

❤❤❤❤❤

<https://www.buymeacoffee.com/RDJWINCHESTER1>


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate wakes up and they get to go home

Dean woke up before Cas for once and decided to go for a rare morning run. He usually ran at nighttime after work. Dean liked to stay in shape. Sometimes a specimen came in the museum that he needed to move and a wax figure of President Lincoln wasn’t light. 

“Babe, Babe,” He gently shook Cas. “I’m going for a run,” Cas growled in response. 

Dean stepped outside in the warm January weather. In Florida, people said that there was a wet and a dry season. In January, so they had about 4 more months of dry. _ ‘It was dry.’  _ Dean could basically be breathing sand right now and he wouldn’t be able to tell. He straightened his running socks one more time and took off.

Cas woke up to Dean’s side of the bed empty and the rest of the hotel room silent.  _ ‘Where was he? Did he go to the hospital without me!’  _ Cas got up and found Dean’s clothes and shoes gone.  _ ‘Along with the keys!’ _ But when Cas looked out the window the gray Honda was still there.  _ ‘Where the hell was he!’ _

By the time Dean returned 45 minutes later, Cas was mad as fuck. Dean barely had time to get in the door before being assaulted by his husband.

“Where the hell were you!”

Dean looked confused and went over to the bed to take off his shoes. “What?”

“Where were you? Your clothes and shoes were gone. Your jacket and the car keys were also gone. I didn’t know where you were!” Cas threw his arms around wildly exaggerating his point.

Dean got off the bed and walked over to Cas. “Babe I told you I was going for a run. I must have put the keys in my pocket last night. I’m sorry I thought you heard me this morning when I told was going for a run; but apparently not,” He said the ‘apparently not’ phase with a grin hoping to make light of the tense air.

“Apparently not,” sneered Cas turning on his heels and locking himself in the bathroom.

Dean sighed. He got undressed into new, non sweaty clothes and gave Cas a couple minutes to cool down. He didn't need to cool down, he was just plain confused.

After a few minutes Dean heard the shower running, but Cas hadn’t brought any clothes with him. Dean grabbed his new day clothes, quietly opened the door and put the folded clothes on the edge of the sink; ready for his husband when he was done. Dean went back and sat on the bed, mindlessly turned on the tv to the news. After 20 more minutes he heard the shower shut off and Cas beginning to change. 20 minutes was long for Cas, he must be really stressed. Dean was to and he felt sorry for being part of Cas’ stress. 

Cas was pissed.  _ ‘Apparently not! Really Dean. Why couldn’t he be more caring right now?’ _ he sighed as the hot water poured over his shoulders. The hotel water pressure sucked, but it still felt good. After a while he got out to find his new day clothes folded on the sink. Once again he sighed. He didn’t mean to exploded on Dean. He came out of the bathroom to find Dean on the bed watching the news.

They quickly glanced at each other before Cas spoke.

“I’m sorry for exploding.”

“No. I’m sorry. I should have woken you up more or at least left the keys.”

Cas walked over to Dean and knelt before him. “Apparently not,” he gave a small smile.

Dean smiled down at his mate. He stroked his cheek. “Apparently not.”

******

Kate woke up sometime later after Dean and Cas had left. She was still in the hospital gown, bed, and cuffs.  _ ‘What had happened?’ _

She noticed a light up clock with butterflies instead of numbers.  _ ‘3:15am’  _ She groaned, she had a blinding headache.  _ ‘Well if I’m in a hospital there must be a nurse call button around here somewhere.’ _ But with her arms cuffed down she couldn’t do anything.

“Hello,” Kate's voice cracked from not being used. She tried again. “Hello! Anyone there?” She called.

A nurse made her way in. 

“How can I help you sweetie?” She began fiddling with the machines and getting Kate’s vitals.

“Umm. What happened? Aren’t I supposed to be home?” 

“Well we ran into complications during your procedure. The doctor wanted to keep you overnight for observation.”

“Oh. Ok. I have a headache.],” all the talking made Kate tired and made her headache worse.

“Ok dear. How about I give you some pain meds,” the nurse pushed a syringe into her IV. 

Kate instantly felt drowsy.  _ ‘The nurse must have put a sleeping aid in along with the pain med.’ _

Everything faded to black.

******

Kate woke to see Cas with his head leaning on his hand sitting in a chair quietly talking to Dean who was leaning against the windowsill. Since their attention was on each other, Kate took the chance to get her bearings. She noticed all of her cuffs were off. Her body was a little stiff from being in one position for so long. She moved her legs slowly.  _ ‘Wait!’ _

_ ‘Her legs were shorter!’ _

_ ‘HER.LEGS.WERE.SHORTER!!!!!’ _

Kate couldn’t help but make noise then.

She screamed.

Cas was thrown from his conversation with Dean when the girl on the bed screamed. He was instantly by her side.

“Baby what’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong with my legs?!” Kate sat up and threw the blanket all the way off her body. She stared at Cas with wide, scared eyes. “What happened to me?”

“Do you remember what happened yesterday?” Dean asked worried.

“Ye-y-yes,” stuttered Kate. “It’s really fuzzy.” For some reason Kate really wanted to cry right now. But she held it together. Just barely.

“Ok. Daddy’s going to go get the doctor, ok. He’ll explained everything,” Cas said as Dean rushed out of the room.

“Ok,” said Kate quietly. _ ‘She  _ **_really_ ** _ wanted to snuggle. She was scared. Wait. Why was she so clingy right now?’ _

Dean came back with Dr. Novak.

While the doctor was checking her vitals, he started talking to Kate.

“How are we doing? Your Daddy is worried about you.”

Kate felt calmer knowing that Dean was worried about her.  _ ‘But why?’ _

“What happened? Why am I smaller?”

“Well, remember that we gave you the pain and sleepy drug then the Alethoura.” Kate nodded. “Well when you were under you had three seizures. You were having a hard time, so I wanted to keep you overnight. You slept through the night except for that headache, but sometimes seizures can give you headaches.”

“But why am I smaller?” Kate said with some heat in her voice.

Dean and Cas looked at each other. Kate had actually whined the question, not angrily liked she wanted to. 

“That’s what Alethoura does. It shrinks you to the age that you are. It would be pretty weird if you were two years old but 5’6” wouldn’t it,” Daniel chuckled. 

Kate looked down at her lap. She wasn’t happy about it. _ ‘And he wasn’t funny.’  _ She frowned. 

“Can I get up?”

“Sure. Everything looks good enough to me. Let’s just do it slowly. Ok,” the doc agreed. 

As the doctor lowered the side, Cas helped Kate sit up and slowly help her swing her legs over the side.

_ ‘His hand is really warm and strong.’ _ As Kate took Cas’s hand it helped ground her physically and mentally. She took a deep breath as she set her socked feet on the cold tile ground. She gripped Cas’s hand a little tighter. 

Dean went to Kate’s other side. Since Cas was holding her hand he was just there in case and to add comfort and support. 

They all stayed in that position until Kate got her new bearings about her.

“How we doin’ deary?” Asked the doctor. He was standing to the side watching how she was faring. And watching how the trio interacted with each other. He was looking for signs of attachment or anything disconcerting. 

“Ok I guess. It feels weird.”

“Yeah that can happen. You have to get used to your new body. Your depth perception and length in strides will change.”

Kate giggled.  _ ‘New body. That was a funny thought and thing to say.’ _

“I’m glad to hear laughing. It can only mean good things,” Dr. Novak grinned. “Do you think you can take a couple steps for me?” 

Kate nodded as Dean stepped in front of her and a couple steps back. He held out his hands like you would to a child just learning to walk. It really looked like Kate was learning to walk, she had her hands out in front of her looking at her

feet in concentration. It only took her five steps to get to Dean but that was far enough.

_ ‘Why was it so hard to walk! What am I? 3! This is  _ **_STUPID_ ** _!’ _ Kate felt angry tears well up in her blue eyes. Once she reached Dean, her feet gave out and she fell into his waiting arms. She was pulled into his chest. She was mad.  _ ‘Why was it so hard? Why was she crying? Why for Dean so calming?’ _ She wrapped her arms around his waist, hiding her face in his stomach, wanting to stay there forever.

The doctor had motioned for Dean to go stand in front of Kate as she got her new bearings. He put his arms out waiting and encouraging her to walk to him. She was pretty shaky on her feet and it took a lot of concentration. He prepared himself when Kate started to fall. He caught her effortlessly and cuddled her. 

When she wrapped her arms around his waist and his shirt became wet he knew something was wrong. He knew it must be hard, but not that hard.  _ ‘Surely.’ _

He looked at Cas as he came over. Cas held his hands out in a  _ ‘give her here’  _ motion. 

When Cas picked the regressed child up she gave a small scream.

_ ‘She felt safe. She could feel someone picking her up. It was scary! What if he dropped her?’  _ Kate relaxed a little when she was brought to Cas’s chest. She was still a little scared, so she hid her face in the crook of his neck and shoulder and gripped his shirt front tightly.  _ ‘She was high up!’  _ She was also still a little teary eyed.

Cas rubbed his hand up and down her back in a soothing manner.

“It’s ok sweetie. I know it's hard,” he cooed. “What’s wrong? Does something hurt?” He felt Kate shakes her head. “What’s wrong then? Are you scared?” A quiet nod of the head.

“Can you tell Papa?” 

A quiet shake of the head.

“Hey deary can you come sit on the bed? I want to talk,” Daniel came over and laid a gentle hand on her lower back.

Kate whimpered. She didn’t want to leave Cas.  _ ‘Even if she was high up.’ _

“It’s ok sweetie. I’ll be right here,” Cas said going over to sit on the hospital bed. He tried to place Kate next to him. Tried is the operative word here. 

‘No she didn’t want to sit next to him!’

“It’s ok. I just want to talk to her not examine her,” the doctor said, kneeling down to be eye to eye with Kate.

“Hi sweetie. Can you look at me?” He smiled when she peeked out from Cas’s chest. “I know this is scary and it’s ok to feel emotionally.”

“But I don’t like it,” whimpered Kate. She hid back in Cas’s chest. Contradicting her words she had just said.

“I know deary. But that is what the drug does. It pinpoints what you need to work on or you didn’t learn in your past life. It’s going to be uncomfortable and hard adjusting for a while. But it will be ok soon,” he tried to be comforting without sugar coating it. Kate would have a lot to get used to over the next couple of weeks. Then they would give her a couple weeks to relax then start the entire process over again. Each time it would get a bit easier. 

Kate just simply nodded once again. She didn’t want to come out from Cas’ chest. His breathing was quite relaxing.

With Kate seemingly done with the conversation, the doctor turned to talk to the fathers about his next steps. 

“So after we all calm down for a bit, you guys are free to go home. You guys just need to monitor her and call if something comes up. It’s not uncommon for her to be sore or sick. You guys will have extreme mood swings. From clingy to pissed as hell. So...have fun with that,” he chuckled at the last when he saw their scared faces. 

Dean knew what he and Cas had signed up for. But he had experience so many emotions in the past 15 minutes it was unreal. Sad when Kate was. His heart melted when she went into Cas’s arms. He was scared and sad when she didn’t want to leave his lap. And now he was scared by what the doctor said to expect. 

Cas was listening to Daniel as he continues to rub his hand up and down Kate’s back. As she relaxed he noticed her breathing evening out and become deeper. He looked down to see her asleep with a small amount of drool on his shirt. His heart melted so deep he was sure there was liquid in his shoes. He kissed the top of her head. Breathing in her scent. He heard a small noise and looked up to see Dean with tears in his eyes.

Dean and Daniel silently watched Cas’s interaction with the sleeping child. Dean’s voice caught in his throat. The scene in front of him was only something he had imagined for the past 2 years. He was overwhelmed with love for the two most wonderful people who were sitting on the hospital bed. Kate looked so small, fragile, and tired with dried tear tracks on her face, but she was wrapped up in the strong and comforting arms for his loving husband. When Cas looked up at him, Dean couldn’t resist the urge to go over and lay a kiss on his lips and a kiss on their daughter’s head. **Their** **daughter**. 

“Alright. Get out of here,” the doctor loved the domestic and loving scene before him, but he decided to be an ass about it and ruin the precious moment. 

Cas looked at Daniel with a glare. But he noticed a gleam in the back of his eye that meant no harm was done.

“Thank you Dr. Novak,” Dean came over to shake his hand.

“Don’t thank me quite yet,” he said with a smirk and promly left the room, leaving to go retrieve the discharge papers.

Cas laughed when he saw the look on Dean’s face.  _ ‘Daniel was such an ass.’ _

******

Kate barely stirred as the husbands changed her into pjs to take her home. Cas had had the brilliant thought to bring pjs assuming that Kate would be tired and want to go straight to bed when they got home. Boy was he right. Kate whined a little when placed in the car and Dean tried to buckle her in. He picked her back out and rocked her from side to side to put her back into a deeper sleep before putting her back in the car with no fuss that time. 

Cas carried Kate into the house and upstairs to her room. Before they had gone to the doctors yesterday morning he had fixed it up one last time. Kate had just slept on the couch for those few days before the appointment, refusing the  men’s encouragements to sleep in her bed. It was her room. She hadn’t trusted them fully enough to relax enough to sleep in an actually bed. 

He gently laid her on the bed as Dean pulled back the covers. Once again Kate whined. But this time it was Cas’s turn to sway her putting her into a deeper sleep. Dean covered as soon as she was settled. 

Dean put an arm around Cas’s waist as they watched Kate sleep for a couple moments. 

“We did alright babe. We’re going to make great parents.”

“Yes we are,” Agreed Cas, laying his head on Dean’s shoulder.

If only they knew what was in store for the three of them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Become a Patron!](https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=6827550)


	5. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet 13 year old Kate Winchester

The next morning the trio sat down at the kitchen table. Most of the time they had eaten just at the kitchen counter. They had just finished breakfast and Kate was already tired enough to go back to bed. She was still getting used to being shorter and all the confusing emotions and thoughts going through her head.

“Alrighty sunshine, we are going to go over some rules ok.” Dean said with a glance at Cas. Cas was fully on board with what they had discussed last night after putting Kate down. He rushed to reassure her as soon as he saw the frightened look on her face. “We just want you to feel safe and loved. And one of the ways we can do that is setting limits just like we would any parent would for a child.”

Kate couldn’t help the uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. Her father had set “rules” too. 

“First thing we need you to understand and realize that we are not your father. We will never hurt you or punish you unnecessarily. We love and care about you.” Said Cas. 

When Kate took a quick glance at him all she saw was pain for her past and affection and love for the present. She felt a bit more at ease and looked at Dean before nodding her head for him to continue. 

“Ok. We know that you will have your 16 mind still present for a while so these apply to both of your mindsets.  No foul language. No hitting. Never hold in your emotions. You have a right to your own emotions. Whether it be angry or sad. Including being happy.” Dean knew if was hard for Kate to show any kind of emotion, because in the past she got beat for it, it was a sign of weakness. And she had no reason to be happy in her past. Now Dean and Cas that would change.

“You will call us Daddy and Papa.You will do what we tell you. Don’t leave the house without one of us. We will decide when you seem to be in the right place to go out. You are allowed outside in the backyard, but the door must be open so we can hear you or one of us as to be outside with you. And as you get younger you are not allowed in the kitchen. Even now all you have to ask if you are hungry. But with all of Cas’s cooking I bet that won’t be a problem.” Dean smiled at this husband during the last part. Cas was a way better cook than him. When they had met in college Dean was living off of ramen noodles. 

“What about punishments?”

Dean’s lips twitched in annoyance. Not at Kate, but at her father. Of course Kate was more worried about the pain they would surely inflict. 

“We will never hurt you or punish you like your father did. We will punish you as we see fit. With all the love and care that we can. We don’t want you to worry about it. These rules are for your safety. Not harm you or keep you from the world.”

“We love you.” Said Cas quietly. 

Kate simply nodded her head and looked back down at her lap.

“Can I go back to bed? I’m tired.”

“Of course sweetie.” Cas said, brushing a strand out of her face and behind her ear. Kate didn’t flinch away from the movement in fact there was no reaction at all. 

Kate waited until Cas stopped and went up to her room with another word. 

Kate went up the stairs and closed her bedroom door. That’s when she let her emotions go. She ran and landed on the bed. She hid her face in the pillow and let the tears come. Her head hurt. She had so many thoughts happening right now. She wanted it all to stop. She wanted to go down stairs, sit on the couch  and watch those stupid tv shows with Dean. She wanted to know that Cas was not far away in his office working on his new fantasy book,the one that had nothing to do with work. Doing the times that he would work on that book, he would keep the sliding door to his office open. 

But all she did was pull the green blanket over her shoulders and fell into a restless sleep. 

******

Dean rolled his eyes. He could hear Kate yelling at Cas for the third time that morning. And it was only 9am. The doctor had warned them  **again** , Dean had rolled his eyes, before they left the hospital about the mood swings. They weren’t that bad, just constant. He got up to go see what she was acting up about now.

Kate threw a pink pillow at Cas, which he ducked effortlessly.

_ ‘Being 13 blows!’ _

“No! I’m not a girly girl. I don’t want the pink shit or this stupid blanket!” She threw the green blanket on the bed at Cas. The blanket looked out of place in the tween’s pink room.

“Young lady we do not use that kind of language in this house.” Cas said sternly, catching the blanket effortlessly. 

_ ‘13 year old kids didn’t have good aim.’ _

“Fuck you!”

Dean came into the room right as Kate said that statement.

“Katherine Rose No Thank You.”

Kate sat on the pink comforter. Crossing her arms with a huff. _‘Great “Daddy” was here.’_

“I agreed with your father about using that kind of language in this house.” Dean spoke sternly. “Now, what is this about?” The second part came out a bit softer. But not by much. 

Kate had gone into her room when Cas had said breakfast was over. She had done that ever since she came home from the hospital, 5 days ago. 

“I don’t want to go downstairs.”

“Why not?”

“Because.”

Cas sighed. “Well you have to. You can’t stay up here for the rest of your life.”

“Yes I can!” Kate exaggerated the point with crossing her arms tighter and huffed out a long and loud breath.

“Ok fine. Goodbye.” Cas and Kate looked in surprise as Dean said those words and promptly left the room.

“Umm Dean what just happened?” Cas had shut Kate’s bedroom door and followed him back into the living room.

“If she thinks she can set her own rules in this house, let her try. The doc said that she was a 13 year old until the next shot. So that means testing boundaries and a lot of confusing emotions. 

“So we our dealing with a “real” tween. Great.” Cas sighed and rolled his eyes. He put the blanket on the back on the couch. 

Though his husband could see an affectionate look in his eyes, Dean smirked. 

“Yup.”

******

The two men spend the next couple of hours doing nothing in particular. Cas read Dean some of his new book and they watched a couple episodes of friends. (Dean got a hold of the remote again). They kept an ear out for the child upstairs. Not a sound could be heard though. 

With Dean being home, he made lunch. He made grilled cheese and tomato soup for him and Cas. He made a PB&J for Kate. It seemed a little harsh for him, but him knew Kate would not die from the meal. It was not like he was giving her a piece of hard bread and a cup of dirty water. As he sat the food  down, he heard Kate on the other side. It sounded like she was sitting by the door. 

Cas watches Dean go up the stairs with Kate’s meal. He felt sorry for being so harsh on her. He knew she was still adjusting to this life. Dean and him were too, to be honest. He was already tired from the past couple days. Dean had been at work for the past three days and it is hard for him to help with Kate when he was exhausted himself. Dean was exhausted from work. Cas was exhausted from dealing with a 13 year old. And Kate was exhausted from  **being** a 13 year old. They were all still adjusting. 

_‘Kate hated both of them. They were stupid. She wasn’t a girly girl. She hated pink. She hated them!’_ She heard Dean set a plate of food and a bottle of water by her door. She could already tell her dads apart. Dean had a heavier set walk then Cas, muffled by socks. Cas didn’t wear socks in the house. When Dean left, she opened the door quietly and ate the food while still thinking over things. _‘Wait! They weren’t her dads! Well they were, but she still didn’t like them.’_ Kate huffed and flopped down on her bed. _‘It still had the pink comforter on it!’_ She wanted to stop thinking about it and rolled over and within seconds she was asleep. 

The men did the same as they did before lunch. All in all it was quite a relaxing day, except their daughter upstairs in her room. 

Dean decided that Kate would get the same meal as lunch for dinner. Like the first time, it would not harm the child. He figured most teens lived off PB&Js anyways. He delivered the food upstairs to find an empty plate and water bottle. He replaced it, but this time he didn’t hear Kate on the other side of the door. Instead he heard the rustling of a comforter and bed sheets.

Soon after Dean came downstairs and sat down on the couch with him, Cas turned on the tv show he liked. Supernatural. He had just started the second episode of the second season when he heard the upstairs bedroom door open. 

Kate came downstairs and sat on the opposite end of the couch. As far as possible from the men as possible. _‘She still wasn’t sorry for what she did. Not totally anyways. Maybe a little. But not a lot!’_ She was a little cold and the blanket she had thrown at Cas was on the back of the couch. Dean and Cas were leaning on it so she pulled on it extra hard and glared at them so she got her point across. When they simply looked silently at her and moved out of the way, she put a dramatic pout on her face. _‘She was_ _**not** happy with them.’ _

When Cas got tired of jumping at how scary the tv show was, he handed Dean the remote so he could watch the 10 o’clock news. He did stay cuddled in Dean’s side though. Dean was warm and comfy. (And he would protect him from demons). (Not that Cas thought they were real or anything).

Once Cas had a chance to relax, he threw a quick glance at Kate. Besides the glare and pout, she hadn’t done anything else. 

“Dean, look.”

Dean looked when Cas tapped him on the leg. He looked to see Kate curled up and around the green blanket. She was curled up against the arm of the couch. She had a couple blanket marks on her cheeks from the blanket being pressed against her face. He couldn’t help but coo at the sight of her.

“Should we leave her or put her to bed. Will she hate us for moving her?” Cas asked.

“She won’t hate us baby.” Dean said, laying a kiss on Cas’s lips. “I’ll carry her upstairs.”

“Ok. I’ll go get her pjs ready.” Cas quietly got up and made his way upstairs.

Dean quietly shut off the tv and got up himself. He wasn’t worried about carrying her. She was small for her age. At 16 she was small due to malnutrition. _‘One of the side effects of Alethoura.’_ Cas had said that she was 100 pounds sopping wet with bricks tied to her feet. Dean smiled at that memory. As he picked up Kate, she melted into his embrace immediately. Her legs going around his waist and arms around his neck.

Kate was comfy and warm. She felt Daddy pick her up. She didn’t want to move. _‘She was warm and comfy!’_

“No Daddy.” She whined. Daddy was taking the blanket off of her.

Dean melted when Kate called him Daddy. He knew she was sleep drunk and probably didn’t realize that she had said it. It also seemed that she wanted the green blanket after all. 

“Ok sunshine. I got the blanket. It’s gonna come with us.” Dean got the blanket and wrapped it around Kate as best as he could with one arm. Once she had it around her blanket she laid her head in the crook on his neck and gave the quietest little sigh. Dean didn’t think he could melt anymore if it was possible.

Dean gently carried Kate up the stairs and walked to her bedroom. Cas was getting pjs out of the drawer as he walked in. ‘How long does it take him to pick out pjs?’ Then Dean noticed the brown comforter. 

“What?” Shrugged Cas. “The other one was dirty.”

Dean knew full well that it had been a new and fresh blanket. He didn’t push it.

“Come on baby girl. Let's get you in some nice and cozy pjs.” Dean set Kate on the edge of the bed.

“No Daddy, too tired.” Kate grumbled and curled up on the bed right where she was.   
  
Cas looked in surprise. _'Did Kate just say Daddy?'_

“She can sleep in her clothes tonight.” He said walking over to them. “Come on sweetheart.” He moved Kate to the top of the bed and tucked her under the blankets.   
  
“No.” Now it was Papa's turn to try and take away the blanket. It had been hard for him to put her and the blanket under the other blankets.   
  
“It's ok. Your blanket's right here.” Cas put it beside the sleepy child. She immediately grabbed it with her hand. She wasn't snuggling it, just holding on to it.  _'To make sure they wouldn't take it from her again.'_

******

Kate woke up to the arousing smell of bacon and pancakes. She groaned and slowly rolled over, stretching. She looked down and noticed a brown comforter on top of her. She groaned once again as yesterday’s events came back to her. 

Cas had just put the last pancake on the waiting plate. Dean and Kate were still asleep. 

Dean had always thought it was funny that even though he was the one that had to get up to work, Cas was up before him. He didn’t make too much fun, he liked the breakfasts that Cas made. Cas was a better cook than him. 

Cas looked up from the hot bacon pan when he heard someone. He looked up to see Kate standing at the top of the stairs in the same clothes from last night. _‘I thought she would have changed first.’_ He shrugged.

“Good morning sweetheart.” Cas smiled. He pointed towards the plates of pancakes, eggs, and bacon.

Kate was hesitant. Her dad had withheld punishment before. _‘He would seem like everything was ok and then start beating her half way through breakfast. Or sometimes he would wait till dinner. For fun.’_

Cas frowned when Kate made no move to come down or eat. 

“Sweetie, you goin’ come down?” His frown deepened when Kate rushed a little to fast to follow his command.

When Kate sat down but didn’t make any effort to grab any food, or look up from her lap for that matter, Cas sighed and left to go grab Dean. He suspected something more was at play. 

“Dean babe. Wake up.”

“Wh-wh-what?” Dean woke up with a groan and furrowed brow. Dean wasn’t exactly fast on Sunday mornings. Or Saturdays for that matter.

“I think we have a problem with Kate.”

“What!?” Dean sat up straight. _‘Maybe having a kid had changed the fast factor.’_ “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing I just think Kate is afraid of what happened yesterday. I think she is afraid of what we are going to do to her.”

“We would never hurt her. Ever.” Dean’s voice rose a couple tones.

“I know, I know babe. We just need to reassure her of that.” Cas said calmly running a thumb pad along Dean’s jawline. “We won’t hurt her. I just didn’t

want to have to punish her as quickly as we thought. It’s only been a couple days since the rules were set. Can we just leave it alone just this one time?” He pleaded the last part. 

“Umm.” While Dean thought about it, he got up and changed into new day clothes. 

“Also. She didn’t change out of the clothes she slept in. Why?” Cas remembered.

“Mmmm. Ok. Well if she is afraid of punishment maybe she is afraid of changing anything without a command from one of us. Which says a lot. It says that she accepts us as the leaders of the household. That was the plan that we had yesterday when we left her in her room and didn’t encourage any bad behavior.”

“That was your plan. I found out when you left the room.” Cas said. 

Dean rolled his eyes and sighed. ‘Of course Cas would say something like that at a time like this.’ ‘Even if he was right.’

“Anyways.” Dean walked up to Cas and wrapped his arms around his neck. “So since she sees us as leaders, we need to show her that we aren’t like her father.” Dean’s green eyes met Cas’s brown ones. 

“Ok. How?” Asked Cas.

Dean loved Cas. He loved how he wasn’t afraid to ask questions. He loved how he knew when he was out of his limit and went to Dean with trusting him with his worry. 

“By loving and caring for her.” Dean laid a gentle kiss on Cas’s lips. 

Cas quirked an eyebrow. “I love you and Kate with all of my heart and soul, but love isn’t a punishment.”

“Have her sweep, mop and vacuum for a week.” Dean shrugged.

Cas nodded in agreement. He didn’t have any clue how to punish a child who didn’t have a phone to take away or didn’t have any friends she would go out with to ground her from going out. 

******

Cas waited for Dean to get changed and they went down together. Kate was still sitting at the kitchen counter, food untouched and still looking at her lap. She visible finches when they both entered the room and Dean coughed. Not to get her attention, just morning phlegm. (Gross).

The husbands grabbed food and sat down at the kitchen counter on each side of Kate. 

“Sunshine you should go get food before Papa eats it all.” Dean grinned as he shoveled pancakes in his mouth. “He is small but he can eat a lot.”

“And he eats like a wild pig.” Cas remarked.

“Hey!” Came the surprised reply. “I do not!”

“Says the man with syrup in his beard.” Cas snorted.

Dean blushed and hurried to wipe his face. 

Cas saw a small flash of a smile grace Kate’s lips. The tension was still there. It sat on her shoulders even as she held her shoulders steady. A sign of a young child holding tension for so long. Tension that a child wasn’t supposed to hold. 

******

After breakfast Cas put the dishes in the sink and Dean told Kate to go sit on the couch. She went wordlessly. 

And just like when they all started this journey, Dean and Cas sat in chairs across from Kate, who sat on the couch with her hands wringing out in her lap. 

“Kate I need you to look at Papa and me please.”

_‘Oh god, here we go.’_ Kate held her breath as she looked up expecting to be hit with the glass flower vase on the coffee table or at least backhanded. 

“We aren’t going to hurt you.” 

Kate felt the hot sting of tears. _‘He must mean not right now.’_

“Not now, not ever. Do you understand?” Dean waited for the silent nod before continuing. “But we do have to punish for your actions yesterday. We are your Daddies and we get to set rules. And you know that that behavior is unacceptable. So since you were mean and broke the rules in Papa’s presence he gets to say what your punishment is. 

Kate frowned, but nodded. She had broken the rules and now for the punishment. _‘She could take it. She was tough.’_

Cas cleared his throat before asking Kate to meet his eyes. He internally flinched when Kate’s eyes remained expressionless. He knew she still didn't trust them. He knew him and Dean would have to work for her trust. She had a respect for them, but it was the kind of respect you might see from a mouse in knowing not to go near the cat food. Full of fear and pain. He had to clear his throat again. This time of emotion. He didn’t need to start crying over a simple punishment. And it wasn’t even him who it was for. 

“Kate you are going to load and unload the dishwasher for one week everyday and sweep every other day along with vacuuming.”

Kate couldn’t help the breath that she let go. Cas looked so sad that he had to give her a punishment. If that’s what you want to call it. She, obviously, had been through worse. That punishment was a normal day to day things she did to ‘run a household’ back then. But at the same time she felt like she had let Cas down. She felt like she wanted to cry. _‘She didn’t want to do chores.’_

Dean watched as the blond haired girl across from him took a breath in and then out. Really fast, like if she couldn’t decide if she wanted to say something or not.

“Do you remember one one of the other rules are? Never hold in your emotions. You have a right to your own emotions. Whether it be angry or sad. Including being happy.” Dean put two fingers under Kate’s chin and lifted her head to look into her wet blue eyes. “Are you sad right now?” He asked gently.

Kate nodded.

“Why are you sad baby?” Cas questioned.

Kate seemed to fold into herself when he asked that question. She still didn’t like showing her emotions or being able to voice her opinions. 

Both men waited several minutes before she finally answered in the quietest voice they have heard.

“Because I don’t want to do chores. I don’t like chores.”

Cas could help but give a relieved chuckle. “Well that’s why it is a punishment. It’s not something you’re supposed to like. It helps you remember what you did wrong and to remind you not to do it again.”

“Ok.” Mumbled Kate. 

“Ok then.” Dean smiled and got up from his chair, smiling at Cas’s returned smile as the older man got up to go to his office to check his daily emails. “You can help me put Papa’s chair back and then start loading the dishwasher.”

Kate got up and went to pick up Cas’s chair. She was not prepared for the effort it took to carry the chair. The shot must have made her weaker.

“Ok. Come here so I can show you how to do the dishwasher.” Dean called. “Do you know how?” After a negative shake of her head, he continued. “So you rinse all the dishes off in the sink then you put the utensils in the holder then plates and bowls in the big part. Then over here,” He pointed to a small box. “Here you put one of these.” Dean grabbed a Cascade pod out from under the sink cabinet and put it in the box, then closed the lid. “You then close the door then you press the wash then rinse button. If you don’t press the rinse button Papa will get mad at you for getting bubbles all over his kitchen floor.”

“He put two pods in and it’s not my kitchen, it’s ours!” Came a shout from Cas’s office. “There were bubbles on the ceiling!”

Dean rolled his eyes and wink before whispering to Kate. “It’s his kitchen and don’t let him tell you otherwise.”

“I heard that.” Came the retort. 

Kate giggled behind her hand as Dean winked again and put his finger to his lips like shushing manner. 

“I heard that too.” Cas said when he heard Kate giggle. He assumed that Dean was the cause of her laughter. 

******

After Dean showed Kate where the broom, dustpan, and vacuum were; they went outside in the backyard. 

It felt nice to be outside after two weeks stuck inside. The men had said that it would be harder to hide Kate when she still looked like herself, only shorter. They had said hid for like of better word. They all knew that no one would be looking for her. And Kate wasn’t has bothered by at that piece of news as she thought she would. She felt ok with everything now. It was scary and new, but it felt safe. The last time she had felt safe was when her mom was by her side. _12_ _years_ _ago_.

“Do you know why I call you sunshine, sunshine?” 

Kate started out of her thoughts. “What?” She rolled her eyes when the man repeated his question in the same dumb way as before.

“Do you know why I call you sunshine, sunshine?” Dean smiled. 

Kate shrugged.

“Because every time I come outside and stand in the sun, my stress just melts away. I feel at peace when I hear the birds chirping and smell the flowers. When I see you, my heart does this fluttery thing that Cas likes to call love and he also calls me soft right after I get that feeling with him. I love you and Cas, even if you break a rule.” He looked at Kate in her bright blue eyes. But not for long since Kate looked at him for a split second then looked down at her feet, a blush on her cheeks.

_ ‘No one has ever said that to her.’ _

_ ‘I love you.’ _

******

“Come on Sunshine.” Dean called up the stairs for the third time.

It has been about a week of having Kate as a 13 year old. And now it was time to go to Dr. Novak’s office for the second time. It was time for Kate to get her next short for deaging. _‘And heavens did they need it.’_ Thought Dean as he rolled his eyes at the empty stairs.

Cas peeked his head around the top of the stairs. “We have a problem.”

Dean gave a confused look as he joined Cas in Kate’s bed room. 

Kate was on the bed on her stomach with her face smashed in a pillow. And by the sound and the small shaking of the shoulders, she was crying. Which made Dean even more confused. A quick glance at his husband, who shrugged, showed him that they were both at a loss.

Cas had waited for Dean before doing anything. He went over to the child on the bed.

“Hey baby, what’s wrong?” He moved his hand in soothing circles on her back.

“No!”

Dean raised his eyebrows at the exclamation from Kate.

Cas however remained calm as the morning after the first shot came to mind. “Sweetheart are you scared?”

The higher pitch in the wails was a confirmation of a yes.

“Come here sweetie.” Cas pulled Kate up and cradled her against his chest, rocking slowly.

After a couple moments Cas whispered to Kate. “Do you want to know a secret?”

Kate peeked up at him. 

“I’m scared of needles too.” He said with a convincing nod of the head. His daughter with a look of awe.

“You are?” Kate didn’t sound like she believed her younger father. 

Cas nodded. “I am. I was 10 and I had to go to the doctors to get a flu shot. I felt so sick I threw up all over the nice doctor’s shoes. I felt so bad, that I cried.”

“Did you get to go home?” Kate sniffed and wiped her nose on her shirt. 

Cas’ lips quirked in amusement as he brushed a strand of hair behind Kate’s ear. “No, unfortunately not. But the doctor said it was ok and at the end I got a sucker for my bravery.” 

Kate huffed and stood up. “I guess I can be brave.” She looked at Cas. “But I’m not throwing up like some girl.”

She left Dean to smirk at a dumbfounded Cas as she went downstairs. 

Cas threw a pillow at Dean before grabbing the treasure green blanket and headed downstairs to see Kate waiting at the door for one of them. 

This would be the first time in public for the small family and it would be a lie to say that none of them were nervous. 


	6. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katie falls into headspace and gets her next as Dean and Can make things official.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN FOREVER!!!!

“Kate, sit down please,” Cas said for the third time since a nurse had led them into an examination room. He knew she was nervous and possibly in her pre-teen headspace a little. 

Kate huffed and went back to sit on the exam table with the crinkley white paper. “But I wanna know what's in the drawers. What’s in the jar? It says tongue depressors. What’s a tongue depressor? Are they sad?” She hopped off the exam table for the fourth time and went over to the small counter top with a small sink. She looked at Cas as she looked over her shoulder then looked at the clear jars on the counter. “I just wanna see it? I won’t touch it.” 

Cas wasn’t convinced when Kate went to subconsciously touch a clear jar filled with cotton balls. There was another jar with tongue depressors and another filled with normal sized bandaids. Then There was a final clear jar with individually wrapped antiseptic wipes. She had just grabbed the lid of the tongue depressor jar when she felt hands wrap around her waist. She squawked when she was set back down on the exam table. She looked up only to see Dean smirking down at her. “Wasn’t gonna touch it,” she pouted and crossed her arms as Dean sat next to her. A little too close for her liking and she scooted over a bit.

“Papa told you to stay, please sit,” Dean couldn’t help but smile when his girl shot Cas a small worried look before playing with her yellow hair tie on her wrist. “The doctor will be here soon.” Dean meant that as a comfort to ease her boredom in waiting, but when Kate looked up at him with fear, he realized his mistake. “We’re going to talk for a bit first and he’s probably going to use a tongue depressor.”

Kate took a deep breath. _‘Shots are scary but that stick looks awfully cool.’_ She wondered if it tasted like wood or if it tasted like the popsicle that used to be on it. 

She couldn’t help but jump a little when the door opened and the doctor came in. 

“Well hello deary. It’s nice to see you again,” Dr. Daniel Novak came into the room with his normal cheery expression and manner. 

Kate watched him with suspicious eyes as he said hi and went on to say hi to her dads and shake hands with them. When he turned to her, she glared at him to show that she meant business. _She was scared._

“Hi deary, how are we today?” Daniel asked with a bright smile and a hand to shake. 

“Good,” Kate said and shook the man’s hand, but like most kids, who don’t regularly shake hands, it was a bit awkward and uncomfortable. 

But Dr. Novak was used to awkward situations and was quick to move on. He gave the girl another smile and went to sit down at the desk with the computer and signed in. “So since the first shot worked, I’m going to send you guys over to the other side of the building so we can get the adoption papers situated, but,” he turned around to face Kate. “I bet that would be pretty boring for you, so we’re going into the room next to the boring old paperwork room and play some games. How does that sound?” 

Kate looked from the doctor to Dean. “They’ll be right there?” 

“Right there,” Dr. Novak nodded ro show his agreement. When Kate nodded, he smiled and stood up. “Alright come on then,” he went to the door and waited for the family. As they were all headed down the hallway, he held his hand out for the scared girl to take. She looked at him and went to walk close to Cas, who was walking side by side with Dean. 

Cas stopped when Daniel said that they could go into a small office with an older woman at a desk. The doctor then said that they would be in the room right across from the small office. Cas’ heart broke when Kate looked back at him with fear in her eyes as she went into the other room with Dr. Novak. 

‘I can do this. I’ve dealt with worse.’ Kate steeled herself as she followed the man in the white coat into the room. ‘It was a nice room I suppose.’ she thought. 

It was a small room with jungle decorated walls. The carpet was a bright red, orange, yellow and green squares with the ABC’s on each square but in a different color than the square it was on. There was a plain white cubby on one wall with baskets in them. To hod, Kate didn’t know what. She followed the doctor to a small round purple table with small blue chairs. When she sat down she noticed the other wall was a mirror but it looked like kids had drawn all over it. 

“Is that a two way mirror.”

Daniel looked at the mirror to see himself wave. He found small things to make him happy as he smiled. “Yes, it is,” he said. “And there is a camera right there, there and there,” he pointed to the cameras in the corners of the ceiling. He was used to kids being unsure and knowing about how to avoid cameras and two way mirrors from their past lives. 

His job today was to see where Kate was at in her progress and mental state. Games and coloring were to distract the kids from the cameras. No one was behind the mirror. After the parents finished with the legal adoption paperwork they would be led to the mirror so they could see their kid hopefully play for a couple minutes. 

Kate looked at the cameras. It was an open room, she couldn’t hide. _Her father had always told her to hide. To fit into small spaces. If you were small, you could be unseen and steal things, you could get away with things._

“Kate?”

Kate’s head snapped up from where she was playing with her fingernails. “What?”

“I said your name twice. Where did you just go?” Dr. Novak asked gently. 

“No where,” Kate mumbled. “There’s no place to hide.”

“Ok, well we don’t need to hide in here. We’re just going to play some games or color. Which one do you want to do?”

Kate shrugged. She really didn’t want to be here, in this room or building. She wanted to go back home with Papa and Daddy…

"Deary, it’s okay. Do you wanna go sit on the bean bag chair?”

Kate was confused for a bit then realized that she was taking short breaths and was close to crying. “Can I just go? P-please.” 

“No deary, I’m sorry. They’re busy right now. How about we just take a couple breathes and calm down. There we go, good job. Ok, one more, good job. Ok. Now, do you just want to color for a bit?”

Kate felt calmer and nodded. She picked the Disney animal coloring book when the doctor brought over a couple along with a pencil box full of crayons. 

“I think I’m going to color a race car,” Daniel said. “By the way, my name is Daniel so you don’t have to call me Mr. Novak.That’s a funny name isn’t it.”

Kate nodded. “I guess, I knew someone once who’s last name was Bunny. Nathan Bunny,” Kate hid her smile when Daniel laughed. 

“That is pretty funny. Wow, that’s a good dog’s fur. Do you want a yellow dog?”

“It’s not yellow, it’s a golden retriever. My first foster parents had one. They were nice. Her name was racer cause she ran around like crazy,” Kate laughed at the memory. 

“Oh,” Daniel nodded in understanding. He leaned closer to the girl and whispered. “Do you think Daddy and Papa would let you have a puppy?”

Kate giggled. “Cas wouldn’t let me have a dog! Dogs are too dirty. I would have to do more chores cleaning up. Daddy would let me have a dog, probably. He walked all over the house the other day in his dirty shoes!”

“He did!” Daniel gasped as Kate giggled so hard she leaned over on the table. 

Kate nodded so hard her hair flew around like crazy. She wiped it out of her face and took a breath or two to calm down. She felt relaxed enough to look around the look and saw a basket in the cubbie labeled legos. _They had legos at home!...but she didn’t play with them yet...cause last time she tried to play, her father said she was being too loud._

Kate looked at Daniel nervously, but he was busy coloring one of the race car neon green. Then she looked at the basket. _Her basket at home was red, this one was blue._

Novak was quick to go back to drawing when Kate relaxed, so she didn’t spook again. He watched her as she looked at the legos and back at him a couple of times. 

After about 10 minutes, he heard a quiet voice. “Can we play legos, together?”

******

Dean grabbed Cas’ hand as they let Dr. Novak takes Kate for the evaluation. He knew Cas was nervous. _Hell, he was nervous._

He led Cas up to the desk where an older lady was smiling. _She was probably used to this._

“Hi, Mr. and Mr. Winchester, right?” 

“Yes,” Dean replied with a smile. 

“Alright follow me please,” the lady stood up and led them to a back room as she began to talk. “So while this is all legal, we have consent from your child when she was older is that correct?”

“Yes ma’am,” Dean sat in the chair the lady provided with Cas right next to him. 

“So I’m going to give you some paperwork to fill out. It will have a new name, birthday, your address, stuff like that? Are you changing your child’s name?”

“No ma’am,” it was Cas’ turn to answer. 

“Ok, then just leave that section blank and move onto the next.” With that, the lady left for the men to do their paperwork in private. 

Cas was the researcher of the two historians so he took over the paperwork, Dean adding in when he felt like it. When they were finished, they headed back out to give the lady the paperwork. When the lady asked them to follow her again, the men followed her to another room that looked like a small courtroom. 

“Hello there Mr. and Mr. Winchester,” A well built man came up to the trio. “Thank you Jess.” The man extended his hand. “I’m Fergus Crowley. Please tell me you didn’t name your child Fergus.”

Dean and Cas had to laugh. “No sir, we did not. Her name is Katherine Rose,” Dean smiled. 

“Well that’s beautiful. Let’s make her a Winchester shall we.” 

The married couple smiled as they followed the judge to have him sign the papers so in case of trouble, Kate would be legally theirs. 

******

After about 20 minutes, Cas and Dean were led back to the front desk where Jess took them across the hallway to the room next to the room where Dr. Novak and Kate had gone in. 

They soon knew why they were there as they saw the two way mirror and saw the room where Kate was playing legos with the doctor. 

Kate was jumping up and down cheering at the tall tower of legos that the two had built. It was taller than the 4’ 9” girl and a couple inches shorter than the male doctor. 

Cas’ heart swelled at the sight of his daughter having fun and being relaxed. He was a bit sad that they weren’t the first ones but he knew what Daniel had to do to evaluate Kate. 

After a while watching, Dean couldn’t take it anymore and went into the room. 

Kate and turned to see who was coming in. She smiled more when she saw who it was. “Daddy!” She ran over and pulled him in by his hand. “Come look at what me and Daniel made! See! Look!” She was proud of their creation. She gasped when she saw Papa come in, she ran over to him and pulled him over to Daddy. “Papa look!”

Cas gasped and knelt down to be at Kate’s level. “Wow! That’s taller than you baby!”

“Yeah and almost taller than Daniel!” Kate put her hand in the air to show how tall it was. She nodded when Papa gasped again. 

Kate turned to Daniel when he stood up. “What do you say we go back to the exam room now? I know, it was fun wasn’t it, but now we have to go and talk for a bit.”

Kate frowned when she heard that. _She wanted to stay and play. It was fun._

Dean wrapped his arms around her shoulder. “How about we finish talking and then we can go home and play with your legos. We can try to make it taller than this one. What do you think?” After a moment Kate nodded. 

“Ok then,” Novak said and all together they went back to the original examination room. Once there Kate sat on the crinkley white paper. Dean sat next to her and Cas sat in the chair provided. 

“Ok,” Dr. Novak said as he signed into the computer and put in an order for the next shot of Alethoura. “So Kate is doing really well. So because of her seizures with the last shot, I want to keep her only for a couple hours,” he reassured the parents. “She should be in the right headspace for a couple days afterwards and things should be fuzzy. And because of the fuzzy she might be a little more tired than usual. But you’ll just have to take a nap then, won’t ya,” he grinned at Kate when she frowned and shook her head. “Well ok then,” he smiled again. “Did you guys get all the paperwork finished?”

“Yes,” Cas confirmed.

“Good!” Daniel was always happy when things became official. “Now just because things are settled, it doesn’t mean you can go out and see people. One day she might be 13 then see the same people in a month and have a 5 year old.”

“We understand, if we do go out we’ll go a town or two over. How long will the entire process take?” Cas replies.

“About 5 months. After this shot, if everything goes well, we’ll switch to a shot every other week to move things along faster. Alrighty dreary,” Dr. Novak turned to Kate when there was a knock on the door. “You ready?”

Kate didn’t say anything and just looked as the door opened and a gentleman came in wearing light blue scrubs and carrying a tray with gauze, a tourniquet, and most importantly to Kate, the shot. 

_'That looks bigger than last time!’_ Kate eyed the man warily even though he wore a smile. She watched him the entire time he set the tray down, grabbed an antiseptic wipe from one of the clear jars on the counter and came over to her. That’s when she had had enough of that.

While the doctor was not surprised, Dean was not really prepared for what happened next.

Kate was in her headspace and had had enough. She burst into tears and held out her arms for her Daddy next to her. 

“Oh honey, it’s okay,” Dean cooed and picked her up and put her on his lap. “It’s okay.”

“Nooo,” Kate whined and his in Daddy’s chest, gripping his shirt. She let out a shriek when the male nurse came closer. 

“Okay, okay,” Dean cooed in Kate’s ear as he nodded to the nurse to proceed. The continued to coo and rub Kate’s back in a loving manner as the nurse cleaned her right upper arm and went over to get the shot. Another nod and the nurse administrated the shot. 

Katie’s cries reached a whole new level as the shot went into her arm and hiding in Daddy’s neck wasn’t helping. After a minute or so she began to feel lighter and tired really quickly. 

She was out before Novak came back in the room. 

******

“Okay,” Daniel Novak said when the family had stayed there for 5 hours and the girl had had no seizures. That was a good thing and she was about the size of a nine year old girl at 4 and a half feet tall.

“You guys are free to go home, and remember that it’s every other week from now on. The front desk lady will help with that,” he smiled at both of the men as they gave their thanks and goodbyes before leaving to his other patients. 


	7. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katie is still in headspace so her and Cas have a Papa & daughter day

_ ‘Papa--Cas, damn they call themselves by those monikers so damn much they've got me doing it in my head. Whatever. Papa got me up for THIS!’ _ Kate was not happy. Cas had woken her up to take her out on the porch to watch it rain. 

To. Watch. It. Rain.

******

When Dean had left for work, Cas had woken up, per usual, to give him a kiss goodbye. Dean didn’t eat a full breakfast during the work week. A homemade granola bar from Cas usually was enough. Dean tasted like granola as he kissed Cas and grinned then pulled away looking into his deep brown colored eyes. 

“Babe it’s raining.”

Cas jumped out of bed with the excitement of a 5 year old on Christmas morning. He loved it when it rained. He loved the sounds and smells. He loved how it seemed everything was still even in the pouring rain. He loved how everything smelled clean. He even loved it when it was over and the warm yellow sunshine shone through the clouds and the birds started their beautiful songs. 

Dean laughed softly as he watched Cas look out the window. “Bye babe. I love you.”

Cas came over and wrapped his arms around his neck. He landed a very enthusiastic kiss on his lips. Not heated, just full of love and excitement for the day. 

He decided that it was a good idea to share that joy with someone, so he went to go wake up their nine year old daughter. “Baby, wake up,” he gently shook the girl. 

Katie groaned and tried to hide under her green blanket...with no luck, Papa grabbed the blanket and pulled her out of bed and downstairs to the back porch to look at the rain. 

At first she was annoyed and curled deeper into her blanket that Papa had taken with her when he took her outside. But after a while, she realized how calm everything was. There were a couple birds that were just as grumpy as she was, chipping up in the trees. Papa was quietly sipping on a cup of coffee, leaning his head back with a soft sigh every time he finished drinking. He looked so at peace that it made Katie give a small smiling. 

Then the sunshine shone in her face and she wasn’t happy anymore. 

Cas had to give a light chuckle when Katie gave a whine mixed with a groan as the sun came up. She was so cute when she was grumpy. And he knew something about a grumpy nine year old. Katie had been nine for a week now and four of those days she had been mostly in pouts. Daddy was embarrassing and Papa wasn’t cool enough for her. 

Not true. He was totally cool. 

But he also knew that she was tired of being stuck in the house for the past three months since she followed him through the door as a teenager. Maybe they could do their first Papa and Katie day. This was only a morning rain, it was supposed to be in the 80's today. Ice cream might be a good idea later. Also with Katie’s age changing so quickly, maybe a couple coloring books might be a good idea. 

But right now it was time for breakfast. Pancakes and eggs would do. The males quickly realized that it was their daughter’s favorite. With berries. Katie would do anything for a container of raspberries. Dean had found her one night in the kitchen with two empty containers of them and a red stain across her face. The husbands had found it too cute to actually punish her, she had just been talked to again about hiding food. She just needed to say that she was hungry and Daddy  and Papa would be more than happy to grab her a snack. No more 2am trips to the fridge. 

After breakfast, Cas broke the hopefully exciting news. 

And boy oh boy was it exciting news!

_ They were going out! _

_ For ice cream! _

“Yay! Katie cheered and did a little dance. She ran to the front door bench/cubbie and grabbed her light up pink princess shoes that had only been in the backyard before. She had thrown a fit the first time Dean had come home with them, but they were better than not being able to go outside. Papa hated dirty feet in the house. And the playground was only so much fun. 

Cas smiled in the rearview as Katie moved her head from side to side in time with Taylor Swift’s new song. He didn’t care for Swift himself even if he was gay, but if Katie liked it, he could put up with it. He could feel Katie’s energy pick up as Cas pulled into a small ice cream shop called the carousel. 

The Carousel was a quaint little ice cream shop that was designed to look...well, like a carousel. The actual building was small with only three people inside. The outside had an animal every ten feet around the building that had a pole through the middle. The whole thing was embedded into concrete so nothing moved, but carousel music played from the speakers. There were only about 10 different flavors of ice cream along with your typical soft serve options and about 10 different toppings. It was small and at this time of day it was quiet since every normal kid was in school. Just the way Cas wanted it. It was only one town over, but they would head yet another town over to go to look for the coloring books just to be on the safe side of things. 

They hopped out of the car and Katie immediately ran over to a silver horse with golden reins. She put her foot in the metal ring that was supposed to look like a stirrup and hoisted herself up. She smiled as she rocked back and forth and waved her arm above her head. “Yeehaw!” she cheered. 

“You go cowgirl,” Cas smiled as he stood by the side so as to not be “run over” by his wild child. 

“Yeah, I’m a barrel racer,” Katie said and as Cas raised his eyebrows with a humored look. “The best in the world.”

“Well does my barrel racer want some ice cream?” Cas smiled as he began to walk backwards towards the order window. Katie nodded and got off to follow him. She stumbled a bit when her foot got caught in her haste, but she recovered quickly. 

Cas put his hands on her shoulders as the young lady at the window gave them a moment to look over the menu. There was only a mother with her toddler and baby who had already gotten their orders so Cas wasn’t worried about being in anyone’s way. 

“Ok, so they have mini M&M’s, oreo cookies, peanuts, mini chocolate chips, carmel, chocolate or strawberry syrup, strawberries, rainbow or chocolate sprinkles and last but not least cookie dough. You can have one topping. What kind of ice cream do you want?” Cas let the girl look in the larger window at the tubs of the ice cream that wasn’t the soft serve that was in a machine. 

“Umm…,” Katie took a moment to choose. There were so many choices. “Umm...Chocolate fudge ice cream with M&M’s and rainbow sprinkles,” as she spoke she gave a little leap on her tiptoes with a smile up at Papa. 

“I said one topping wild child,” Cas reminded her with a look. He liked that nickname and hoped she would relax more and more and grow into it. 

“M&M’s aren’t toppings, they go inside the ice cream,” Katie stated with a pleading look up at the man. 

Cas snorted. He had to give it to the girl.  _ Smart aleck. _ “Ok,” he groaned, sounding put upon as Katie giggled and followed him to the ordering window. 

"Hi, how can I help you today?” the young lady at the window asked cheerfully with a bright smile. 

Cas smiled back. “Hi. Can I have a scoop of chocolate fudge with M&M’s and rainbow sprinkles and twist soft serve cone with rainbow sprinkles,” he pulled out his wallet to pay when Katie piped up. 

“Can I have a cone?”

Cas looked up at the associate and smiled. Can I get a small sugar cone turned over and on top of the chocolate fudge please?”

“Of course,” the young lady smiled as she took Cas’ credit card and slid the window shut to get their order ready. 

After Katie had played on an elephant this time for about 5 minutes, the young lady called out their orders and they went to the window. Katie then picked a red round table to sit at while they ate. Cas took one look at the excited look on his daughter’s face and knew he needed to grab a bunch of napkins from the canister. They probably would need to use the extra wipes Cas kept in the center console of the car as well. 

“So what kind of coloring books do you wanna get at the store?” Cas asked as he licked his ice cream. It was a nice and cool treat in this heat. There was absolutely no sign that it had rained this morning. Even in the shadows the water had evaporated. 

Katie swung her feet along the concrete as she used a spoon to eat her ice cream. “I want a horse one. Can I have a horse?”

_ Well that escalated quickly _ , Cas thought. “How about we get a coloring book first,” he smiled. 

Katie nodded, okay with that answer for now. Her ice cream was much more interesting at this point. But after a while it wasn;t interesting cause it was all gone. But Papa still had his. She went over to his seat and scooted into fit by his side. She leaned her head on his shoulder and watched him for a moment. 

Cas was not dumb. He knew what his wild child was up to. He paused in his treat to look down at the nine year old. “Can I help you?”

“My ice cream is all gone,” Katie pouted. She gave a pause before asking the inevitable. “Can I have some of yours?” she asked with her biggest set of puppy dog eyes.

And that is how Katie got a half of another ice cream cone. 

******

After a wipe down before hopping in the car, Cas and Katie headed to a store another town over. 

Cas was at a stop light when his phone went off. He glanced at it before picking it up. It was Dean. 

_ I got off work early _

_ Where are you? _

Cas had to wait till the next lights as the one he was at had just turned green. He wasn’t one to text while driving. No one should be. 

_ We’re in Calto getting coloring books, come join us, we can have dinner _

Dean was quick to reply. 

_ See ya at Happy Hues _

Happy Hues was a medium sized toy store in town. It was the same play Dean went to go get the playset that was set up in the backyard. Dean had come up with a good choice, they were sure to find some good coloring books and maybe some other things there as well. Cas told Dean as such and put his phone back in the empty cup holder. “That was Daddy, he’s going to meet us at the toy store,” he called back to Katie in the backseat. 

“Daddy?” Katie questioned as she blinked owlishly in the rearview mirror. 

“Yup,” Cas said softier when he realized he must have woken her up from a light doze. “Daddy’s going to visit us at the store.”

“Ok,” Katie replied sleepily and rested her head back on the window. It seemed like only a moment since she laid her head back down when Papa was lightly shaking her awake and they were at the store. She took a moment to rub her face and eyes then unbuckled to get out. “Daddy!” she called when she saw the older male waiting at the front door of the store. 

Dean had to hold his breath as Katie dashed across the parking lot without looking first and ran into his arms. “Hi sweetheart,” he smiled as he caught her. He set her down as ruffled her hair. “Try not to run across the parking lot okay.”

“Yeah,” Cas said as he came up to the duo. “Daddy and I don’t want you to get hurt wild child.” Katie nodded, already headed towards the door. Cas rolled his eyes as Dean slung his arm around his husband’s shoulder. 

“Wild child?” Dean noted. 

Cas nodded. “Yeah I think it fits.” 

Dean smiled and nodded in agreement. “I like it,” he said as he gave Cas’ temple a kiss. 

******

Katie was all set to go into the store and see all the pretty things. 

_ And there were so many pretty things! _

She had just reached the coloring book section when a blinding light hit her and she instinctively closed her eyes against it. 

******

_ You don’t deserve anything you worthless piece of shit, her father hissed in her ear when she had paused too long to look at a coloring book on one of the end caps of an aisle.  _

_ He had grabbed her arm in a bruising grip as he dragged her to the checkout counter to pay for the beer he had come to get.  _

_ Katie had gone back to cleaning dishes and doing chores that she soon forgot about having a coloring book.  _

_ It wasn’t till two days later that her father came traipsing in with a small book in his hands. Katie was in her usually bare corner of the living room, reading one of the two magazines that her father let her have. A reader’s digest and a hot rod. It was late fall, so it was actually a warm spot if the fire was going, which it was. It was cozy, a thing Katie never had a lot of.  _

_ Here, the man said and held it out to her.  _

_ That was a weird thing for the man to say, he never got her anything. Katie was cautious as she got off the floor and went to him.  _

_ She was surprised to see a pink coloring book in his hands. It was a good one. It was one that only had about 5 pages, but it was a coloring book. She tried to not seem too eager as she reached out for it.  _

_ Katie’s fingertips had just brushed the book when her father grinned and threw it directly into the burning fire.  _

_ Katie couldn’t help but feel weak in the knees as she watched the book burn.  _

_ And what did her father do? _

_ He laughed and told her to start dinner as if he hadn’t just crushed his daughter’s heart, but he didn’t care. That was kind of the point. She didn’t need things, she wasn’t worth it.  _

******

Katie took a breath as her senses came back to her. She opened her eyes,  _ when had she closed them? _

She was so focused on what had just happened that she didn’t see the person in front of her. 

“Oh, careful there sweetie,” the larger woman said in a soft tone. She had been picking out a  _ cars _ coloring book for her grandson when a young girl around nine years old ran into her. 

The small girl was going through so much that she suddenly felt overstimulated. Her breaths were getting harder and harder to take. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled before turning around and taking a run for it. 

The front door was close and it only took two seconds to open it and into the sunlight. The heat was instantly on her as Katie took off across the parking lot. She could vaguely hear someone or someones calling for her, but she paid it no mind. 

She had to run...to escape her dad...her own mind was against her. 

_ “KATIE!” _


	8. Author Note

I have serious depression and cant seem to get over it. Story on hold till further notice. sorry for any inconvenience. Keep me in your prayers. 11/12/2020 


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